Runescape has long had a black market for gold and accounts. Ever since the game was created, people have been farming gold either through botting or staking in the duel arena. With the proceeds of these banned activities, these players would sell the gold to merchanters that flip the runescape gold on various online forums. As the sale of this type of good became more professional, several of the largest gold sellers established sites to sell their gold. Since sellers with sites were perceived to have a stronger reputation, this enabled them to sell at a premium compared to their forum selling counterparts. RunesScape gold selling has been a major part of the video game black market economy. Every day, thousands of transactions around the globe are conducted by these sellers and buyers. For example, one site, RSgoldstop.com, offers services and items in Runescape 3 and Runescape 2007. Some of these items include: rs gold, rs 2007 gold, fire capes, account powerleveling, and even game accounts. Sites like Rsgoldstop.com are ran by individuals that once played the game but found profit to be made by flipping in game assets. Jagex, the creators of Runescape have declared that this type of behavior is strictly forbidden and is breaking in game rules. Known as Real World Trading, this is when players trade their in game goods for real world currency. Of course, this has no negative impact on how players enjoy the game, but will have a direct impact in Jagex’s profitability as a company. When people go to black market sites to buy currency, this reduces the revenue that Jagex would receive had the player purchased virtual items in their in game store. This type of problem has been known to gaming companies and nowadays companies are going from a subscription based service to a microtransaction based gaming platform. Of course, the micro transactions only benefit the gaming companies, and not the consumer. Many gamers have expressed discontent towards the way gaming companies are developing their games. Even so, these black market players will always find a way to find profit in a video game.

Chinese players have long been a major factor in the E-sports scene around the world. Starting with Starcraft and World of Warcraft, video games has allowed Chinese players to rise up and compete on the world stage. In many games, the Chinese teams that participate are hugely successful and become major powerhouses that dominate international competition. With this sudden influx in international popularity there becomes a new concern that occurs. Many of these games have black markets for virtual items. Since the wage in China is significantly lower than around the world, many players have participated in elo boost, gold farming, and account power leveling to supplement their income while they practice in hopes of become professional video game players. This phenomena is so common that there is said to be a billion dollar black market for virtual goods.

You may ask, how do these players collect the funds and why do people spend their hard earned money on virtual goods? Well the answer is very simple: ever since the internet was created communication between countries has been made easier than ever before. There are many payment processors that allow these players to sell services and virtual goods. Why would other plays want these items? Psychologists around the world have correlated video gaming to real life. People become so exposed to their online worlds that these video game items have become equivalent to tangible objects in real life. They are given value and are though of such.

Websites like www.cheapeloboosting.com offer services that we have mentioned here. This website is known for offering lol elo boost for the game League of Legends. Although this type of activity is frowned upon by Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends and is punishable through in game suspension and removal of ranked season rewards. These websites are created by highly rated players and provide coaching services and tips for players that want to improve their play. The unique thing about boosting websites is that it only allows players from each server to effectively provide services. Other games like Runescape and World of Warcraft have servers all around the world, which keeps the ping low enough for Chinese gamers to feasibly offer services. In League of Legends servers are located near the gaming community they target. The one for North America is located in Los Angeles, there is one in Amsterdam for Europe West, among others.